Dorothy’s journey forces her to get up at 5am and use a nebuliser before travelling, and often doesn’t get home until 11pm, all for a 15-minute appointment to see a throat doctor, neurologist or have a tracheostomy tube checked.

Dorothy Anderson explains the toll the long trips are taking on her

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Her message, which was played at Holyrood during a meeting of Caithness Health Action Team representatives with figures such as Health Secretary Shona Robison and NHS Highland chief executive Elaine Mead, has attracted ­thousands of views on Facebook.

Fighting back tears, Dorothy says: “I would like to ask Nicola Sturgeon and Shona Robison and Elaine Mead, would any of them be happy to let their mother or their granny travel in a train, if it’s going, for four-and-a-half hours, or on a bus, if it doesn’t break down halfway, to go to an appointment?”

Holding a photo of herself to show what she looked like just a year ago, she adds: “I was quite an active person and I want to be an active person again. I don’t want to rely on other people.

Dorothy Anderson shows what she looked like just a year ago

“People are not going to come up here with their young families to live if there is not a decent hospital within a hundred miles.”

Ron Gunn, vice chairman of Caithness Health Action Team, who recorded the clip on his phone, said: “Shona Robison was opposite me at the meeting, so I showed her the video and had a loudspeaker so everyone could hear it.

Dorothy Anderson has to travel 100 miles to Raigmore Hospital in Inverness every month for 15-minute appointments (Image: PA)

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“She did write something down but there was no response, there was silence in the room.”

Dorothy is one of more than 11,000 people from the far north who travelled ­to Raigmore for outpatient appointments last year because services were no longer available in places such as Wick.

Robison said: “I want to ensure patients across Scotland get access to the best quality ­healthcare, which is why I will be writing to Ms Anderson to ­understand more about the specific details.”